Day two at Bestival and the festival truly came alive with a carnival/amazing fancy dress theme. We lost count of the amazingly colourful, imaginative and fun costumes that we saw! Given that this is Bestival’s 10th year anniversary, it seems that everyone went that extra mile to fully embrace the event. Our favourite costumes that we have spotted so far include people dressed as giant calamari’s, jellyfish, mermaids, a life-sized wolf on top of someones shoulders and countless nautical themes running through the festival, sporting our sailor hats and sash, we fitted right in.
Our first act of the day that we witnessed were great, in the shape of The Polyphonic Spree, who kicked off at the main stage around midday, they also performed a really fun stage stage show later on in the day at the Big Top stage, which combined with The Rocky Horror Picture Show, it was some sight to see and hugely entertaining. We had a wander around the festival and the vibe was completely joyous and fun, the effort that so many people put into the costumes was a delight and added so much more to the festival atmosphere.
Bastille warmed up the crowd at the Main Stage early in the afternoon and sounded fantastic live and were full of energy. A-Yo featuring Mark Ronson vs Zane Lowe put on a DJ set some 45 minutes later and played some great songs. We only wished that the unnecessary blaspheming by Zane Lowe would have been cut out, as it just really wasn’t necessary, he seemed to have a slight bug-bear also, announcing before playing several songs ‘don’t tell me that I’m a music snob’, before launching into the likes of Beyonce’s Crazy in Love and Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines, the crowd were throughly enjoying the music and dancing around, we only wished that Zane felt the same way. Mark Ronson closed the set by playing Valerie, which was to be the perfect closer, before The Fugees Killing Me Softly finished the set, which got cut short half way through.
We walked over to the Amphitheatre in the middle of the forest, to witness Tounge Fu, a comedian who gave us the ‘I’ve heard that Cadbury’s are going to bring out a new Asian chocolate bar; it’s called a Chinese Wispa’, which was also featured in this year’s Edinburgh Fringe, winning the best joke award. His Maroon and fish sketch, as completely silly as it was, got everyone laughing, just as it was so bizarre and wacky.
We made our way to what looked like an inflatable church, intrigued by this, we went inside to witness a mock wedding ceremony, hosted by a hilarious vicar with an infectious and enthusiastic American accent. They were several ‘can we get an Amen; and several ‘hallelujah’ moments. The bride and groom took their vows, with the best man resembling a giant turtle, not your average wedding! A tunnel of love was created by the ‘guests’, including us and the happy couple skipped their way through to the outside of the inflatable church, where we all posed for a group wedding photo afterwards, we haven’t laughed so hard in a long time, it was hilarious. Another highlight of the day was the Bestival parade, which happened mid way through the day, to celebrate it’s 10th year anniversary. This was a colourful and amazing parade, featuring so many flamboyant characters, dressed in a rainbow of feathers, glitter, giant creations and a bucket full of smiles.
Elsewhere, the imaginatively named threesome Late Night Gimp Fight entertained the crowd with their own unique blend of physical comedy showcasing their special take on Beyonce’s Single Ladies music video, resulting in a rather risqué finale and an alternative puppet show. This was just one of the many brilliant acts to feature in the Comedy Tent, and for anyone seeking a break from the fantastic music in the main arena, it provides welcome relief.
Rudimental on the Main Stage were absolutely incredible to watch and listen to. We loved their debut album, but their music truly comes alive and is greater to appreciate when you witness them live, they were full of verve from the start to the finish of the set and there was not a soul in the field who were not dancing. Franz Ferdinand played their most famous songs that they are known for, such as Take Me Out and Matinee, as well as some new songs and we were pleased to see that they had all dressed up in nautical themed white and blue stripe jumpers, they must have taken note of us reminding them to dress up, when we saw them at Tuesday’s AIM Awards!
Over at the Pigs Big Ballroom, we saw the brilliant CC Smugglers. We are familiar with this band at EF and love work, but we hadn’t seen them live before and they were so much more than we had expected. The six piece from Bedfordshire all play an array of instruments between them, including the double bass, trumpet and harmonica, and have a sound and look of a band from perhaps the 40’s, with a swing, rock, folk and slight bluesy feel and it felt like we were in the presence of gentlemen. They were hilarious in between songs and the banter had everyone laughing, they are definitely ones to watch for the future and we will be keeping our eyes peeled for future gigs of theirs, they are definitely worth checking out and not to mention handsome, especially the double bass player, Dan Evans!
The headline act was Snoop Dogg, who did not disappoint. He came onstage in his usual, relaxed demeanour and within minutes got the crowd bouncing, singing, smiling and having a blast. He was accompanied on stage by some scantily clad women, who he seemed to enjoy dancing and pressing up on him! He did so many of his classic songs, as well as his newer songs, including songs such as Signs, California Gurls, Drop It Like It’s Hot, The Next Episode and What’s My Name. For a headline slot though, it was relatively short, playing for only just over an hour and there was no encore.
The night didn’t end at Snoop Dogg however. At The Wishing Tree, several DJ’s took it in turns to keep the ravers happy! We took a look inside the tiny hollowed out fake tree, to find a small crowd of about 40 people dancing around inside, with lots of green strobe lighting flashing. Over at the Port, the night was still young, with the likes of Toddla T Sound, Pyro and Hudson Mohawke carrying the party on until 3:00am. The Port is a truly special place to be when and the acrobatics, by performers attached to a huge crowd swaying over the HMS Bestival and huge goblets of fire forked the sky. Over at the Big Top the Simian Mobile Disco also kept several revellers dry and dancing, until 4:00am. It was another pretty spectacular day and we can’t wait for Day 3!
